Machine for slitting sheet metal.



PATENTED MAR. 5,- 1907, L. E. CURTIS.

MACHINE FOR SLITTING SHEET METAL.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT.23, 1901.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WI TNESSES a; mama:

[/VVENTOR. Zen Z61: C'ariz's A TTORNE K5 No. 845,764. PATENTED MAR 5, 1907; L. E. CURTIS.

' MACHINE FOR SLITTING SHEET METAL.

- APPLIOATION FILED SEPT.23.1901.

WITNESSES INVENTOR. BY Zen Z6 Z. 62111 26 7 m W kNEYS 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED MAR. 5, 190.7.

' L. E. CURT MACHINE FOR SLITTING APPLIOATIO ILBD s SHEET METAL.

EPT. 23,1901.

. 4 SHEETS SHEET BY Zen is Z'. Caz/Z18 M. WW6.

A TTURNEY/S f PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907.

No. 845,764. L. E. mums.

MACHINE FOR SLITTING SHEET METAL.

, APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 23. 1901.

- 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

a o :21 l n no w \n 3 E WITNESSES v V INVENTOR.

' BY Zen L's Z7. Carla's M'WTTORNEYJ slits in the different rows UNITED sTA rns PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS E. CURTIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR TO OSCAR BRAD- FORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS NEW YORK, N. Y.

, AND WILLIAM L. CALDWELL, OF

MACHINE FOR SLITTING SHEET METAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March .5, 1907.

Application filed September 28. 1901. Serial No. 76,221.

To all, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS E. CURTIs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of'Illinois, have invented a new and useful Imrovement in Machines for Slitting Sheet fetal, of which the following is'a specification. 1

This machine is designed to slit sheet metal preparatory to expanding it by opening the slits. In it I employ two pairs of slitting-rolls arranged one in advance of the other, each cutting the slits in alternate rows and in such relation to each other that the break joints with each other.

' In the Patent No. 671,915, granted to me April 9, 1901 I show a single pair of rolls for slitting the metal and acting to cut all the slits in their proper relation and we 1 ada ted to operate upon metal wherein the widt of the strands formed by the machine is greater than the thickness of the metal; but the machine of that patent is not well adapted to be used in slitting sheets where the strands to be formed are narrow and square in crosssection, because the disks or cutters can only' be made as thick as the strands are wide and cannot, therefore, be notched deep enough to allow the uncut portions or bonds to assume their angling position into which they are necessarily forced while the cuts are being made without so weakening the cutters as to render them unable to stand up under the cutting operation. It is essential that the bend in the metal shall not be at such a sharp angle as to weaken the fabric, and this can only be avoided in the patented machine by notching the cutters deeply. With the present machine this bending is wholly obviated, and it permits the cutters to be made to agree in thickness with the width of two strands instead of one, and each pair of cutters forms the slits in alternate rows only, so that it becomes unimportant whether the cutters are notched on the side in the manner of my said patent or clear across their peripheries, as :shown herein.

The nature of my'present invention will be fully understood from the accompanying drawing and the description thereof given below.

In said drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section, of a slitting-machine constructed according to my present invention. Fig. 4 is a partial vertical section of the slitting-rolls. Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of one of the cutters, and Fig. 6 shows the cuts made in the sheet by the rolls.

In said drawing, 10' re resents. the frame of the machine, 11 the ta le fromwhich the sheets of metal are fed, and 12 the table onto which they are delivered after being slitted.

13 is the drive-pulley on shaft 14, carrying a pinion 15, meshing with gear 16 on the journal of the'lower one of the first air of rolls and also with the gear 17 on the ournal The gears 16 and 17 mesh with gears. 18 and 19 on the journals of the upper roll of each pair, as shown at Fig. 1.

The first pair of rolls are designated by the numerals 20 and 21 and the second pair by the numerals 22 and 23, They are similar in construction except that the cutters of one pair are arranged to operate in planes between the planes in which the cutters of the other pair operate.

The cutters of all the rolls are indicated at 24, and each is of a thickness or width across its periphery equaling the width of two strands of the shtted metal. They are arranged on the rolls with spacing-rings 25 beadjusted that the cutters of one roll will be opposite the spacing-rings of the other roll and so that the cutters Wlll lap by each other sufficiently to effect the severation of the metal. They are notched entirely across their peripheries, as shown at 26, but may be notched on the side, if preferred, according to my said patent. The second pair of rolls out rows of slits between the rows of slits cut by the first pair, as will be understood from Fig. 6, where 27 indicates theslits formed by one pair of rolls, and 28 those formed by the other pair of rolls. The notches 26 interrupt the cutting, thereby forming the bonds or uncut portions 33.

The cutters are desirably confined on the rolls by clamping-nuts 29 and rings 30 at each end of the rolls, and strippers 31 are desirably employed with each pair of rolls to prevent any tendency by the sheet to bend around either roll. A support 32 is desirable between the pairs of rolls. Of course it will be understood that feed-rolls may be used with this machine in the same manner as with my patented machine.

tween them, and each pair ofthe rolls is sov of one pair of the lower one of the second pair of rolls.

' into a plurality I claim- 1. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a frame, of a plurality of pairs of coacting' rolls means arranged on sai rolls equidistant apart and adapted -to cut a sheet ofmetal of short slits arranged staggering with each other and a uniform distance a art, .each of said pairs of rolls formingha of said slits.

2. The sheet-metal-slittin machine wherein are combined two pairs 0 slitting-rolls arranged one in advance of the other, said rolls bein adapted to slit the sheet without bending t e metal, and each roll being provided with a series of cutters extending the entire width of the sheet, and each pair of.rolls forming. slits in rows alternating with the slits formed by the cutters of the other air.

3. The sheet-metalslitting machine w erein are combined two pairs of slitting-rolls, one pair in advance 0 the other pair, and

(iournaled thereon,

I both provided with notched cutters extend- I ing the entire width of the sheet, and so arranged that the rows of slits formed by one pair alternate with the rows formed by the other air, and so the slits in the difi'erent rows reakv joints, said cutters being also adapted to sht the sheet without bending the metal.

4. The sheet-metal-slitting machine wherein are combined two airs of slitting-rolls arranged one air in a vance of the other, and both provi ed with notched cutters whose thickness e uals the width of two strands of so the rows of slits out by one pair of rolls alternate with the rows of slits out by the other pair, and being adapted to cut the sheet without bending the metal.

- LEWIS E. CURTIS. Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, Enw. S. VEVARIS.

the slitted s eet, said cutters beingarranged' 

